The Hlog

Ferentz: We Just Have to Execute Better

Iowa football Kirk Ferentz probably won't be voting for a Democrat in the 2008 presidential election because, well, because he isn't a Democrat. But more importantly, he probably doesn't care for all their talk about the 'C' word.

That's "Change," by the way.

Will there be changes to his coaching staff? It''s a possibility, Ferentz said, but only if they should happen to pursue other opportunities. He said Tuesday that he has a lot of confidence in his coaches, or words to that effect. I'm going to take an uninformed guess and say at least one current coach moves along. If so, and I have nothing tangible to offer that guess, would it matter in the big picture? Who knows?

Will Ferentz shift offensive philosophies, go to a spread offense that is the flavor of the moment in college football? Nope. There are lots of ways to coordinate an offense, he basically said. The New England Patriots do little but pass, the Jacksonville Jaguars do little but run, and it all boils down to how well you execute. We just have to execute better, he said.

Will Ferentz change quarterbacks? It's possible, but a long way from probable. He mentioned former Hawkeye QB Matt Rodgers when discussing the whipping boy of Iowa fans, Jake Christensen. Rodgers was thought by many in Iowa to be a washout when he was a young starter, then evolved to become an All-Big Ten player as the signal-caller for Iowa's last Rose Bowl team, the 1990 squad. The experience of his first, difficult year of play helped mold Rodgers, and so - you can guess the rest.

Me, I'd love to see Christensen turn into an all-conference honoree just to silence everyone who wanted to write off a sophomore playing in an offense with nothing but freshmen receivers, and an offensive line that reminded no one of the one that powered over people for the Hawkeyes in 2002.

Christensen wasn't too wonderful last season. He has areas that obviously need improvement. You can say the same about many of his teammates, for one thing. For another, is it so hard to believe that he can improve on some physical things and put the experience he gained in 2007 to good use the next two years?

It's one thing for people to cast doubts on coaches with long-term contracts that set them up to be better off financially than dozens of small nations. To mercilessly criticize a player who is doing something more difficult thatn what the vast majority of the rest of us do for a living, and who gets paid the grand total of zero? That's just warped.





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